Fordland castle owner says property tax threatens business

Jul. 29, 2013

Chateau Charmant is a 4,800-square-foot building in Fordland made to appear as a 14th century French castle. Owners Robert and Bonnie Palmer use the building to host weddings and other gatherings. / Submitted photo

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Fordland resident Robert Palmer addresses the Christian County Commission and Board of Equalization regarding the assessment of his Chateau Charmant property. He says the cost of the county property tax will lead to the closing of his business. / Rance Burger/News-Leader

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OZARK — Robert and Bonnie Palmer say their home is not their castle, but a building on their property happens to be a good imitation of a 14th century French castle.

The Palmers are locked into a dispute with the Christian County Assessor’s Office over the value of their northeastern Christian County property, home to a 4,800-square-foot building that they use to host “fairy tale” weddings.

The family now says its dream of building a scenic destination on Martins Branch Road in the Fordland area is under siege, not from cannon or trebuchet, nor from the hands of an Englishman bearing sword and shield, but from hands bearing pen and paper that belong to Christian County Assessor David Stokely.

The Palmers say the cost of paying their county property tax is a threat to their business and will lead to its closure.

“We don’t have the income to pay the tax,” Palmer said.

The Palmers moved from Los Angeles to Christian County in 2003 and began building the castle in 2004.

In 2011, the assessor’s office valued the property housing the castle at more than $1 million, which led Palmer to pay his property tax under protest for the next two years. The Christian County assessor’s records show that Palmer paid a property tax of $2,105.58 in 2012.

The property was assessed as a Class A commercial building, while Palmer argues it should have been assessed as a Class E building, something usually reserved for barns.

“I don’t know of any regulation that requires a barn to have any particular style or look, and it was, in fact, built as a barn,” Palmer said.

“We had a hard time classifying this as a barn,” Stokely said.

Chateau Charmant served as an elegant backdrop for five weddings in 2012. While it looks to be the stuff of dreams in photographs, Palmer insists its look is more illusion than high-end construction. The building has false windows, non-standard doors, a lack of finish, a concrete floor and a lack of central heat and air.

“There is no way on earth that building qualifies as residential quality construction,” Palmer said.

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The assessor first listed the property’s appraised value at $1.02 million and a total assessed value of $286,000, with the commercial space valued at $228,000. The building contains a 700-square-foot residential apartment that was assessed separately.

“That assessed value, I felt, was just really unreasonable. So I was told at that point that they felt it was a reasonable assessment, and so I asked, ‘well, how did you come up with that valuation?’ That information was denied me,” Palmer said.

Upon Palmer’s appeal, Stokely says he and his staff took the castle’s rural location and limited business window into consideration and reduced the appraised value by 45 percent. The values he offered were a $656,000 appraisal and a $177,000 assessment, which would likely lower Palmer’s tax bill from $2,100, but keep it above the $564.52 paid in 2009.

“I want to make this right, I want to work with you, and I have tried to cooperate and work with you every way possible,” Stokely told Palmer.

Palmer says the property should be assessed based on the expected income streams that it can generate, which would leave his castle valued at approximately $25,000.

Stokely says his office needs three years of business data from Chateau Charmant in order to assess it by income.

“We were given some very limited income information. We asked for three years income and expense information and we were provided with this schedule C, which is just a profit and loss from business statement, it does not really give us the full information that we needed,” Stokely said.

Stokely says the business has not been open long enough to offer the data necessary to do the assessment based on Palmer’s request.

“I could give you theoretical numbers, but if I have something I have to hang my hat on, stand behind, and justify, verify and defend — especially in front of a body like the board of equalization — I have to be very careful that I do it very specifically based on real numbers,” Stokely said.

Palmer agreed with Stokely that assessing the property, which also includes 140 acres of land, a mobile home, a barn and a shed, is a difficult task — especially because there are no other buildings modeled after 14th century French castles from which to draw comparisons.

“Search far and wide and you’re not going to find a property that’s comparable. That makes it difficult, it makes it difficult on the assessor,” Palmer said.

After two hours of discussion between Stokely and the Palmers and an executive session meeting among its members, the Christian County Board of Equalization voted to adjust the property’s appraised value to $578,500.

Palmer has until Aug. 21 to issue an official appeal to the Missouri State Tax Commission. September marks the start of a reassessment period in Christian County. Assessor-elect Danny Gray will take office, replacing Stokely.